The sensitivity of the assessment process in screening mammography

A follow-up of 3143 women from four screening centres, who were assessed after screening mammography, showed that 371 had breast cancer diagnosed at that assessment and 62 developed a breast cancer in the following 6 years. Of these, 32 were judged to be false-negatives at assessment, with 23 of the 32 at the site originally suspected. The results show that the assessment process is not infallible and that the scale of the problem only becomes clear when an exhaustive search is made for missed cancers.